Smith leads Hawks past Mavs

Video

Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Josh Smith scored a game-high 26 points to lead
the Atlanta Hawks to a 105-101 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

Smith, who went 10-for-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range, also
grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out six assists.

Al Horford scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, Jeff Teague scored 20
points to go with nine assists and Devin Harris scored 15 points for the
Hawks, who have won two of their last three.

"This was probably one of the biggest wins for us this year, coming into an
arena that is very tough to play in," said Hawks head coach Larry Drew. "For
the most part, we did an excellent job of executing our game plan and our
strategy of trying to keep them off balance as best we can."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and O.J. Mayo poured in 19 points for the Mavs,
who had won two in a row entering the contest.

"We haven't broken the threshold that's going to make us a team that can
really become a dangerous team," said Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle. "I think
we're a dangerous team. I think we can beat anybody on any given night, but
the consistency has got to be better."

Smith's 3-pointer with 1:51 left put the Hawks up 99-94, but Nowitzki scored
the next four points to make it 99-98 with 44.9 seconds left.

Elton Brand then stole the ball from Smith and passed it up court to Mayo,
but Harris raced down the court and stripped Mayo at the other end to get the
ball back.

Dallas was forced to foul Smith, who buried a pair of free throws with 22.2
seconds left, and Teague stole Mayo's wild pass on the next trip down the
court and sunk two free throws to push the lead to 103-98 with 13.6 ticks
showing.

Nowitzki canned a 3-pointer from the top of the key seven seconds later to
pull the Mavs within 103-101, but Kyle Korver's free throws with 5.2 seconds
left sealed the win for the Hawks.

Crowder's baseball pass was stolen by Horford in the final seconds.

Atlanta lead 31-23 after the first quarter and took a 49-48 lead into the
break,

The Hawks led by eight points with 1:35 left in the third period, but the Mavs
scored the final seven points of the frame to go into the final stage
trailing, 82-81.